Focus on Agriculture

For decades in the Salinas Valley, the short-handle hoe, known as “El Cortito,” was used for weeding and thinning rows of crops that kept farmworkers stooped over for long hours each day. Workers were only able to stand and stretch when they reached the...

KING CITY — Salinas Valley Fair has announced that this year’s Fair theme is “Barnyard May-Ham,” suggested by James Hinkle of King City. Hinkle is a sophomore at Palma High School and president of King City Rural 4-H Club. The 16-year-old said he submitted the idea...

CALIFORNIA — A nationwide onion recall was expanded by the Food and Drug Administration on Aug. 10 to include red, yellow, white and sweet yellow onions linked to California suppliers after more than 600 people in 43 states have been sickened with salmonella. The original...

MONTEREY COUNTY — Monterey County Board of Supervisors narrowly voted Jan. 9 to make changes to its outdoor cannabis cultivation pilot program, allowing growers to double their canopy size and eliminate a requirement that made permit applicants prove cannabis was cultivated on the property...

KING CITY — Applications are currently being accepted for the prestigious title of Miss Salinas Valley Fair, which is open to any junior or senior high school girl who is a resident or student of school districts in the counties of Monterey, San Benito,...

The agricultural stretch of California’s Central Coast along the Salinas Valley is often called the “Salad Bowl of the World,” and for good reason. It supplies over 60% of the nation’s lettuce and substantial portions of strawberries, spinach and broccoli. But beyond the fertile...

SALINAS VALLEY — Monterey County Board of Supervisors will host a special ceremony on Tuesday, June 10, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of a landmark legal case that arose out of the Salinas Valley and outlawed the use of “El Cortito,” or the short-handled...

SALINAS VALLEY — Monterey County Health Department reports that 475 agriculture workers, or 36.79 percent of the county’s total confirmed cases, have been infected with Covid-19 as of June 22. A large gap separates that figure and the 261 “unknown or under investigation” category, and...

CASTROVILLE — The beloved Artichoke Festival, a cherished tradition in Monterey County for more than six decades, will not return this year. The festival’s board of directors announced its official closure after 65 years of celebrating the region’s rich agricultural heritage, artichoke royalty and community...

KING CITY — Roses that were planted by Girl Scouts 30 years ago at King City High School have been included in the new landscaping of the school’s state-of-the-art Career Technical Education building, which is set to open in February. Troop 3157 chose a beautification...